Donald W. King, has been appointed Distinguished Research Professor

Press Release

For
immediate release

April 11, 2007

Chapel Hill – Entrepreneur and renowned researcher and statistician,
Donald W. King, has been appointed Distinguished Research Professor by the
University
of
North Carolina
at Chapel Hill’s
School
of
Information
and Library Science (SILS).

King was co-founder of Westat, Inc., which is recognized as one of the
premier survey research companies in the
U.S.
He served as executive vice president and president of the Survey Research and
the Home Testing Institute Divisions of Westat from 1961 until 1974. In 1976 he
founded King Research, Inc., a firm that focused on research in information and
communication services.

The results of King’s research are extensive and includes innovative
approaches to evaluation that have led to a worldwide study and development of
cancer information systems; surveys for ABC
Nightly News and a Barbara Walters special for NBC; a series of studies on
consumer safety; a series of a dozen studies for the National Science Foundation
from 1968 to 1992, some of which were under the umbrella of “Statistical
Indicators of Scientific of Technical Communication;” studies of the impact of
the 1976 revision to copyright law, which led to the Copyright Clearance Center
and a study of the cost benefit for copyright formalities. He and colleagues
have also recently completed a large number of economic analyses and readership
surveys of scientific, technical and medical communication involving scholarly
journals.

“Don is a powerful national voice that we are honored to have represent
the
University
of
North Carolina
at Chapel Hill and especially the
School
of
Information
and Library Science,” said Dr. Gary Marchionini, Cary C. Boshamer
Distinguished Professor and chair of the SILS Personnel Committee that
unanimously selected King for this appointment. “He has already made important
contributions to SILS and the university through his service on national
advisory panels and he continues to work on important research for the
information and library science profession.”

King is currently co-principal investigator on four government funded
studies:

“The Future of Librarians in the Workforce” (UNC
at
Chapel Hill
)

“Taxpayer Return on Investment in Public
Libraries” (UNC at
Chapel Hill
)

“The Use and Potential Use of Online Information”
(
University
of
Pittsburgh
)

“Maximizing
Library Investments in Digital Collections Through Better Data Gathering and
Analysis (MaxData)” (The
University
of
Tennessee
)

Since retiring in the mid-1990s, all of King’s research contributions
have been pro-bono.

King has reported his research in 11 co-authored books (three
award-winning) and edited five others; approximately 80 articles, reviews and
book chapters; and nearly 300 other formal publications. He is frequently
invited to speak about his research around the world.

King has served on numerous policy boards and committees such as the
National Academy of Sciences committees such as; the Commerce Technical Advisory
Board; the National Business Council on Consumer Affairs formed by executive
order; and the Board of Directors for the
Copyright
Clearance
Center
; Engineering Information, Inc.; and others. He has also served elective
positions in professional societies such as the Association for Information
Science and Technology, the Council of Survey Research Organizations, the
Washington Statistical Society and the Washington Operations Research Council.

In addition to Distinguished Research Professor, King has received many
honors and awards including Pioneer of Science Information, Chemical Heritage
Foundation; Fellow, American Statistical Association; Award of Merit and
Research Award, Association for Information Science and Technology; and
Honorary Fellow and Miles Conrad Award and Lecturer, National Federation of
Abstracting and Information Services.